Dinner Spanikopitas

About a year ago I made a lasagna with artichokes and leeks. It was a disaster (stay with me – there’s a point). Since then, James has been weary of anything leek-related in our food. I took this spanikopita recipe and adapted it by adding some leeks and garlic cloves. After James took his first bite and declared the dish delicious, I told him I added leeks. He gave me a look, jokingly called me sly then we both continued feasting on these rich and savory spanikopita’s.

dinner spanikopitas

Another thing you’ll notice in the photo is that these are rolled up like burritos. They’re supposed to look like stuffed triangles. After trying to follow the folding directions in the original recipe I gave up and rolled away. In the directions below I wrote out how I rolled the spanikopita’s. The link to the original directions is below so if you figure out how to make triangles, let me know!

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 and line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
1. Heat the olive oil in a medium sauté pan, add the onion and leeks. Cook for 5 minutes over medium-low heat. Add the green onions and one minced garlic clove and cook for another 2 minutes.
2. In a large mixing bowl add the thawed and drained spinach. When the onion mixture is done, add it to the bowl.
3. Mix in the eggs, Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, nutmeg, remaining minced garlic cloves, salt and pepper. Gently fold in the feta and the pine nuts.
4. Place one sheet (should be about one foot in length) of phyllo dough flat on a work surface. Brush the dough lightly with butter. Working quickly, place another sheet of phyllo on top of the first, and brush it lightly with butter. Continue this process until you have a stack of 4 sheets of phyllo.
5. Place 1/3 cup of the spinach filling on the stack then cut in half with a pizza cutter. Starting with one half, at one end, roll up the dough. At about half way, tuck in the sides to keep the stuffing from falling out. Once all rolled up, place on baking sheet, seams down. Then roll up other half.
6. Repeat steps 4-5 until the spinach filling is used up. Should create 6 spanikopitas. Brush the tops with melted butter, sprinkle with flaked salt and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the phyllo is browned and crisp. Serve hot and with a side salad if you’d like.

Voila!

**

Post-baking thoughts: Looking back over the ingredients and recipe I noticed I missed a few key cues. One being to work with the phyllo dough when it’s defrosted. I took mine right out of the freezer and when I rolled it out it broke off into flakes so I had to patch my dough together when layering it.

Such photographers are well known for the services
that they provide. The circle, plus sign, or brackets in the middle of your viewfinder is for focusing and isn’t necessarily for centering the subject. The first thing you can do is read that long manual that came with your DSLR camera.